Private terminals pull down JN port traffic in fiscal 2014

MUMBAI: Cargo volume at Jawaharlal Nehru Port fell by 3.32% in the last fiscal, mainly due to labour troubles and cut in output by one of the private terminals, JNPT said on Friday.
The country’s largest container port which handled 62.35 million tons of cargo during fiscal 2013-14 as compared to 64.49 tons in the previous year, said while the Government-owned terminal registered a growth of 8.66% in volume, its two private terminals reported lower volumes.
Throughput of two private terminals — NSICT run by DP World Dubai and GTI operated APM Terminals — fell by 7.15% (0. 97 million TEUs) and 6.35% (1.88 million TEUs) respectively, a port official said.
While both the terminals were hit by strike and go-slow action by employees, NSICT fearing revenue loss, reduced the volume after the tariff regulator cut its rate in 2012.
The JNPT’s own terminal handled 1.31 million TEUs as against 1.21 million TEUs in the previous year. Of the total, containerised cargo was 55.24 million tons (88.59%), liquid cargo 6.29 million tons (10.10%) and dry-bulk and break-bulk 0.82 million tons (1.31%).
The total container volume (including private terminals) fell by over two% to 4.16 million TEUs from 4.26 million TEUs. The port’s volumes represent 55.74% of the total containerised cargo (7.47 million) handled by all Major Ports in 2013-14.